Safer Schools Officers (5)

Caroline Pidgeon: How many safer schools officers are currently dedicated to a single named school? What’s the criteria for a single school to be given a dedicated officer?

The Mayor: All schools are offered a designated Safer Schools Officer (SSO). SSOs may be designated to single or multiple schools based on demand.
The decision for a single school to be given a dedicated officer is made locally via an annual demand review by the Safer Schools Sergeant(s) where priority schools and their demands are identified.
The decision to classify a school as a priority for a dedicated posting is evidence based against several criteria, including recorded rates of anti-social behaviour with a link to the School (including community impact), amount of first time entrants to the Criminal Justice System, number of victims of crime, intelligence on weapon related incidents attributed to the school, number of pupils attending the school and the permanent exclusion rate.
As of September 2018, there were 97 Safer Schools Officers dedicated to a single named school. The MPS will review this in August 2019.

Child protection (3)

Caroline Pidgeon: In light of Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services’ latest post-inspection report on the Metropolitan Police Service’s child protection practices, will you be investing, or lobbying for more investment, to increase digital forensics capacity?

The Mayor: The report recommended improvements in the quality and timeliness of investigations relating to the exploitation and abuse of children via the internet. In recognition of the growing threat to children and young people, MOPAC has signposted additional funding to enhance the risk-based approach, enabling the MPS to stop and prevent more predatory offenders and to protect London’s children and young people in a more effective way. Without this additional funding, the only way to achieve this effect would have been to take away resource from other important parts of local policing.

Extinction Rebellion (5)

Peter Whittle: To ask the Mayor is it true that protesters at the Extinction Rebellion protests before Easter were provided with prepared witness statements, designed to convince the courts that their actions werea “reasonable and proportionate response”? These documents advised protesters to tell officers that they have the support of the Mayor of London, who has declared a “climate emergency” in London.

The Mayor: I support the right to peaceful and lawful protest, but the recent protests, some of which were unlawful, placed an enormous burden on our already overstretched and under resourced police. They also had a big impact on some of London’s communities and businesses. I said this publicly at the time.
I cannot comment on documents made available to protestors as neither I nor my team were involved in the organisation or facilitation of Extinction Rebellion protests. However, I was one of the first political leaders to declare a climate emergency in London. It is an inescapable truth that we simply cannot continue to damage the environment the way we have been. We need an urgent step change in the way we think and act in order to tackle climate change. The Government must use this as an opportunity to set out what action it will take, together with a clear and urgent timeframe.

Extinction Rebellion (4)

Peter Whittle: To ask the Mayor if he can foresee any circumstances under which water cannon would be deployed against protestors in London.

The Mayor: I maintain the view that water cannons should not be used in civil disorder situations. They have no place in London.
This was reinforced by the Home Secretary, and now Prime Minister, who made the decision that these could not be used in London.
The water cannon should never have been purchased, were a waste of money and I am glad that I have been able to direct the money from their sale towards vital frontline youth and community services.

Challenging Misogynistic Behaviours to tackle Violence Against Women and Girls

Unmesh Desai: Your Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy recognises the vital role that education can play in challenging misogynistic attitudes which can lead to violence against women and girls. How are you supporting schools to tackle underlying attitudes which may encourage unhealthy relationships or other forms of violence against women and girls?

The Mayor: I have commissioned the charity Tender to deliver a whole school prevention pilot in Croydon. This three-academic year programme is addressing gangs, serious youth violence (SYV) and violence against women and girls within the context of healthy relationships; resilience and enabling young people to make positive choices.
The pilot is being delivered in four Croydon schools and will equip teachers (and other education professionals within the wider school family) with the knowledge, skills and confidence to identify, and take the appropriate steps with children and young people at risk of victimisation or offending.
One element of the evaluation of the pilot will be to develop a toolkit that can be used by other London schools. This will enable schools who wish to, replicate the learning from the pilot to support them to tackle underlying attitudes which may encourage misogyny, unhealthy relationships or other forms of violence against women and girls.

Interserve

Andrew Dismore: What was the number, total value and average value of contracts, if any, the Greater London Authority family held with Interserve before it went into administration?

The Mayor: Set out below are details of the GLA group'scontracts with Interserve before it went into administration:
The London Fire Commissioner (LFC)has one contract with Interserve (start date October 2016), to deliver cleaning services. The contract was due to expire in October this year but has been extended to now expire in October 2020 as the service and contractor’s performance is deemed highly satisfactory. The annual value of the contract is £1.67 million.
MOPAC / Metropolitan Police Service (MPS)– has onecontract with Interserve with a potential value up to £30 million for provision of Special Event Services
Transport for London (TfL)has a contract with Interserve for Track Cleaning and Track Vegetation Management. It commenced in September 2017 and expires September 2019. The annual value is circa £8.9 million per year. TfL also has a pan TfL security contract with Interserve. This is a five-year contract which started in June 2017 and has an option to extend for a further two years. The contract value is circa £16.5 million per annum.

Safer Schools Officers (2)

Caroline Pidgeon: How many Safer Schools Officer posts are currently vacant? Please break this down by BCU and borough.

The Mayor: One of the benefits of the move to BCUs is an investment in more officers involved with schools and youth engagement – a commitment to almost double numbers, from less than 300 officers to well over 500 officers.
Change on this scale does take time and thus officers are still being posted into the new roles that were created within BCUs. To be clear these are not long-standing vacancies but newly created posts which the MPS must now recruit to.
As of the end of February 2019 there were 382 Schools & Youth Engagement Officers. A snapshot of posts yet to be filled from the HR system against the new target shows 144.55 (Full Time Equivalent) posts across the 12 BCUs. The table below shows this detail by BCU.
Safer Schools and Youth Engagement Officers will continue to grow throughout 2019 as the MPS completes the transition to the new model.
BCU Name
Newly Established Posts to be filled
AS - Central South Command Unit Total
9.14
AW - Central West Command Unit Total
20.05
CE - Central East Command Unit Total
12.50
CN - Central North Command Unit Total
5.62
EA - East Area Command Unit Total
22.26
NA - North Area Command Unit Total
6.24
NE - North East Command Unit Total
6.01
NW - North West Command Unit Total
26.40
SE - South East Command Unit Total
17.43
SN - South Area Command Unit Total
13.05
SW - South West Command Unit Total
8.29
WA - West Area Command Unit Total
-2.43*
Grand Total
144.55
*Note that at the time this data snapshot was taken, the West Area was over establishment.

Hostmaker advertisements on the Transport for London network

Sian Berry: On 1 April 2019, in response to my question 2019/6107, you stated that Hostmaker, one of the larger management companies for short-term rentals, was not running any advertising on the Transport for London (TfL) network. However, constituents have provided evidence of recent new Hostmaker ads at London Underground stations, starting very soon after this date and remaining in place at least until 24 April 2019, which now actively encourage landlords to stop offering long-term rentals and move to their service. Will you a) reconsider your previous response, b) ask TfL to remove any remaining adverts with this message that runs contrary to your policies, and c) refuse to continue to accept any further advertisements from these companies?

The Mayor: On 1 April, Hostmaker was not running any campaigns on the Transport for London (TfL) network. After I issued the response, Hostmaker booked two campaigns on the London Underground beginning on 22 April, lasting until 05 May and then 20 May until 6 June.
All campaigns that run on the TfL network are judged against the current TfL advertising policy, and these campaigns were deemed to comply with this policy. However, I have asked my Deputy Mayor of Housing and Residential Development, James Murray, to follow up with TfL about this issue.

Drones (1)

Tony Devenish: Following the Gatwick drone incident, can the Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime and/or the Deputy Mayor for Fire and Resilience arrange a private briefing for Assembly Members and Borough Leaders to reassure us that measures are under review to avoid a repeat of this incident in London airports?

The Mayor: The Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime, Deputy Mayor for Fire and Resilience and myself regularly meet with Borough Leaders and Assembly Members on numerous subjects including those on security and resilience issues. There are also many opportunities for Assembly members to ask specific questions to the Deputy Mayors at the Police and Crime Committee and the London Fire, Resilience and Emergency Planning Committee as well as at Mayor’s Question Time.

Special constables 9

Keith Prince: For each of the years 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018, how many former police officers have become special constables?

The Mayor: The table below shows the number of Metropolitan Special Constabulary (MSC) recruits with previous experience as a police officer in the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS).
Year
Number of MSC Recruits with experience as MPS officer
2015
3
2016
6
2017
6
2018
7
Total
22

Child protection (1)

Caroline Pidgeon: What is your response to Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services’ latest post-inspection report on the Metropolitan Police Service’s child protection practices?

The Mayor: As you would expect, I was aware of some of the Inspection’s outcomes prior to publication. The improvements made by the MPS in how it protects children in some important areas is of course welcomed, but I share HMICFRS’ concerns about a greater focus on outcomes for children at risk of harm.
Keeping children and young people safe is a key priority in my Police and Crime Plan and my Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime, Sophie Linden, will continue to provide oversight of the MPS to ensure this is delivered through a range of mechanisms, including the London Child Protection Policing Improvement Oversight Board.
A full response to the HMICFRS on this inspection will be published on my website shortly.

LEAP (2)

Andrew Boff: Can you provide me with a table setting out all of the money LEAP has awarded by organisation, from January 2018 until today. Can you also include the amount of money received by each organisation and for what reason they were awarded the money?

The Mayor: Please find in the attached table information on net funds awarded to each recipient of LEAP funding between January 2018 and May 2019.

Dedicated Ward Officers

Caroline Pidgeon: How many Dedicated Ward Officers are currently restricted to desk duties in each ward in London and for each, how long have they been restricted for?

The Mayor: The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) data systems do not allow this question to be easily answered. There are various types of restricted duty (disciplinary and medical) and these are held on different systems and not centralised. It is not possible to search these systems by job role and as such, each individual records would need to be checked for each Dedicated Ward Officer (DWO). This would take the MPS a disproportionate amount of time and resource to complete.

Street racing

Shaun Bailey: Would the Mayor update the chamber on what measures are being undertaken to stop the street racing on the A10 Great Cambridge Road that continues to disturb Londoners into the early hours?

The Mayor: Street racing is both extremely anti-social and very dangerous: it not only risks the lives of the public, but also those doing the racing.
Enfield Council, supported by the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), introduced a Public Space Protection Order which has been in place since January 2018. The order, which is in place until January 2021, means that using a vehicle in an anti-social manner is treated as a criminal offence and the MPS will not hesitate in taking action against anyone caught breaking the law. While no arrests have been made in Enfield, Neighbourhood Officers are actively tackling this issue via regular patrols.
The local Roads and Transport Police also conduct speeding operations along the A10, but this is ad hoc at present.

Violence Reduction Unit – school exclusions

Sian Berry: Following the Violence Reduction Unit Partnership Reference Group meeting on 26 November 2018, what work will the Violence Reduction Unit be doing around school exclusions and pupil referral units?

The Mayor: I recently called on the Government to address the issue of exclusions and off-rolling of pupils, in recognition that those excluded from mainstream education are at significantly greater risk of becoming involved in or affected by serious youth violence. The VRU and partners recognise that school inclusion and working with education providers is essential to keeping young people safe. The work programme discussed at the Partnership Reference Group included a commitment to: Reduce the number of young people excluded and missing from mainstream education at both primary and secondary levels.
We will build on the recently published Timpson review and existing work in City Hall and beyond to achieve this. The VRU will be working with GLA Education & Youth, schools, and other partners to progress this.

Policing and Body-Worn Video Camera for Plain Clothes and Undercover Officers (1)

Unmesh Desai: Are plain clothes police officers and undercover police officers equipped with body-worn video cameras?

The Mayor: Body-Worn Video (BWV) is an overt recording device. If an officeris in a plain clothes role and not considered covert (i.e. a rolethat requires RIPA authorisation), then they must have a camera readily available torecord any mandatory incident (e.g. any search, arrests, use of force, DA incidents etc).
Officers are instructed, before they leave Met premises, that they should make sure that when required,they are able to attach a BWV camera to their clothing so that it can easily be seen by members of the public. Officers must record their justification for not using a camera for mandatory recording incidents. Carrying out plain clothes work is not considered sufficient justification alone.
Officers in predominantly public facing roles (regardless of wearing uniform or not), are provided with a personally issued camera. Every other officer can use one of the “Pool Cameras” which are available on all Boroughs.

Resources for the Roads and Transport Policing Command (4)

Sian Berry: Thank you for your answer to my question 2019/6105. What is the current 2019-20 and planned 2020-21 budget for the Road and Transport Policing Command (RTPC)? And do you have an estimate of how much of this will be spent each year on roads policing while officers are diverted to the Violent Crime Taskforce?

The Mayor: The current budget for the Roads and Transport Policing Command for 2019-20 is £139.6 million of which £93.9 million will be funded by Transport for London and £45.7 million (excluding corporate support costs) will be funded by the MPS.
The planned budget for 2020-21 is £141.4 million of which the MPS hold a legacy budgetary figure for the Transport for London funding of £95.7 million and £45.7 million (excluding corporate support costs) will be funded by the MPS. These figures will be revisited to ensure they remain accurate as part of the 2020-21 budget building process.
The Roads and Transport Policing Command currently provides approximately 111 officers to the Violent Crime Task Force and therefore £133.3 million of the Commands budget for 2019-20 will be available for Roads Policing.

Police cells

Tony Devenish: What contingency plans do the Met have if 300 protesters have caused the police to run out of cells?

The Mayor: The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) has a custody estate of 592 cells available across 23 suites operating 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. There are 8 contingency suites (totalling 149 cells), which are not in everyday use, but are available for immediate use should the need arise.
In addition, the MPS has mutual aid agreements with neighbouring forces to use their custody facilities in extremis. This agreement has not been activated since the establishment of the Met Detention command in 2015.

Disproportionate use of tasers against BAME children

Sian Berry: The Children’s Rights Alliance for England report, The State of Children’s Rights in 2018, published in March 2019, reported that tasers were used disproportionately against children from BAME backgrounds, with BAME children accounting for 68 per cent of tasers used against children by the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), compared with 51 per cent in England. Do you share my concerns about this finding and what actions will you take to address this disproportionate use?

The Mayor: All use of force must be proportionate, since the introduction of a new reporting system, all use of force data is subject to scrutiny across the Met. This data is published by the Met and by the Home Office. In addition, the Deputy Mayor oversees the data concerning the use of force, holding the Met to account, and in particular examining issues such as disproportionality and use of force against children. It remains the case that when an officer uses force they must individually account for its use, recording the circumstances. The introduction of body worn video has further enhanced the Met’s ability to scrutinise instances where force has been used.

Huawei (2)

Susan Hall: What Metropolitan IT systems are currently provided by Huawei?

The Mayor: None.

Stop and search evaluation (2)

Sian Berry: In your answer to my question 2019/4134 you told me about the Youth Voice Survey, which I was aware of, but gave no details of any other methods of formal evaluation. Could you outline what methods are used to evaluate stop and search, for example whether police officers are interviewed or surveyed about the procedures they are following and the kinds of interactions they are having with members of the public during stop and search, and whether samples of body worn video captured during stop and search encounters are used to review and evaluate the positive or negative effects on members of the public who are stopped and searched without result. Will any formal evaluation of this kind be published, and if so when?

The Mayor: It would be impractical to do more in the way of formal evaluation of the nature you describe, which would require a significant data gathering exercise from police officers and from members of the public post-search. Reviewing the effects of stop and search encounters through body worn video would be challenging as if nothing is found officers cease recording once the stop and search is completed; this doesn’t make a review of the effect on the person possible.
My Office for Policing and Crime have been gathering more qualitative data through engagement sessions with young people with a session at the start of May attracting more than 50 young participants. More sessions like this will take place throughout the year in order to better understand the experiences of those most affected by stop and to consider those experiences could be improved.

Terrorism Prevention and Investigation Measures

Joanne McCartney: How much money has the Metropolitan Police Service spent on policing those suspects subject to Terrorism Prevention and Investigation Measures (Tpims) in each of the past 3 years? How many individuals does this cover?

The Mayor: The Metropolitan Police Service is unable to answer this question due to security concerns.

Huawei (1)

Susan Hall: How many Huawei phones and tablets are currently used by the Metropolitan Police?

The Mayor: None.